A Taenia solium oncosphere protein homologous to host-protective Taenia ovis and Taenia saginata 18 kDa antigens

Abstract

A Taenia solium cDNA (TSOL-18) encoding a protein with close homology to host protective oncosphere antigens from Taenia ovis (To18) and Taenia saginata (TSA-18) is described here. TSOL-18 was cloned from mRNA obtained from hatched and activated oncospheres of T. solium. The high level of predicted amino acid sequence homology among TSOL-18 and other host protective taeniid antigens suggests that the protein expressed by TSOL-18 may be capable of being used as a vaccine against T. solium infection in the parasite's intermediate hosts. (C) 1998 Australian Society for Parasitology . Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.